A RECTOR who found a diamond bracelet in his church's collection box is hoping it will fetch more than #1,000 at auction.

Canon Christopher Samuels, of St Mary's, in Handbridge, Chester, received an anonymous telephone call from a woman claiming she had left the jewellery in an alms box.

When he checked the container, kept at the back of the church, he found a string of glittering stones nestling among a handful of coins.

Canon Samuels, who is a chaplain to the Queen, said: "It was most unusual.

"God really does work in mysterious ways.

"The anonymous caller told me that she wanted it to be used to help the church.

"I asked if we could sell it and use the funds and she agreed."

Very little is known about St Mary's most illusive benefactor except that she is not one of the church's parishioners.

The bracelet, which contains 66 tiny brilliant-cut diamonds, will be offered for sale by Chester-based Byrne's auctioneers in June. It is of modern design, believed to be no more than 20 years old, with the stones set in a box link chain.

Jo Boucher, a partner in Byrne's auctioneers, said: "It is a very elegant piece of jewellery, very understated.

"With the box link it is literally just a line of diamonds. It is certainly English but we don't know the maker.

"It was startling that someone should make a donation like this but it was a wonderful gesture that she would give it to a local church."

The bracelet has a guide price of #800 to #1,000 but the auction house believes it is a conservative estimate.

Money raised will go towards St Mary's Church's work with children and young people in the Handbridge community.

Canon Samuels added: "We have a family worker whose job it is to work with children, clubs and uniformed organisations in worship.

"We will be spending the money we receive for the bracelet on that."

The diamond "Riviere" bracelet is being offered for sale on June 23.

St Mary's Church Without The Walls was built by the Duke of Westminster in 1881 to save him a trip over the River Dee to the original 12th-century building.

The parish board did not want to name it after the first church, St Mary's of the Castle, but could not decide what to call it.

It eventually agreed on the name St Mary Without the Walls.

The sandstone construction is best known for its beautiful stained glass windows.

Hardest stone of all

* Diamond is the hardest natural substance on Earth.

* Most diamonds are between one to three billion years old.

* The crystalline form of carbon is formed deep within the Earth's crust and comes to surface via volcanoes.

* Jewellery diamonds are measured by the four Cs: Cut, Colour, Carat and Clarity.

* Carat measures the weight of a diamond, not its size.

* The largest rough diamond ever found was the Cullinan or Star of Africa with 3,106 carats, in South Africa in 1905.

* The Cullinan forms part of the British Royal Sceptre and is exhibited in the Tower of London.